EveryDay Life is a new contemporary urban non-fiction masterpiece straight out of the reality of Long Beach. This dramatic work depicts the main character L as he faces the internal and external conflicts. Set in the American urban areas EveryDay Life is a fun eye-opening social commentary and a hard look at people and society as a whole.
Imagine a world that we all know exists but few have dared to write about. In a book with infinitely relatable characters with unique character names. A book written with words that can almost be felt as well as they can be read. Take a hardworking father, now wrongly imprison him. Then release him to a ghetto full of gang violence, police searches and shiftlessness. Does he become as they are or does he strive to become better? Does he hate or try to bring people together? With everyone against him does he give up? Does he live or die? While these questions are being answered L and his friends live out their lives. EveryDay Life is such as book; a book full of humor, philosophy, social commentary, politics, and possibilities coupled with an informative look inside the lives of urbanites
EveryDay Life begins a humorous journey with disenfranchised homies. While on this journey the reader is treated to a nostalgic romp through the 90's. In the midst of littering the scene with curse words, drive-bys, and police arrest the characters openly discuss topics from America's over-medication, Fatherhood, taxes, women, foreign policy, the economy, or just being a black man in America. EveryDay Life is the funniest book ever written, seriously. Simply calling EveryDay Life a Hip-Hop book is disservice because it's not about Hip Hop. EveryDay Life is Hip Hop
Excerpt
Step into the A.M.
It is a typical Friday morning, and C is draped over the futon
like a thrown blanket, one socked foot showing. He is asleep,
loudly snoring, and is covered by a Pittsburg Steelers blanket.
Assorted wrappers are on the floor, half-drunk cups are on the
coffee table. The sound of weights being lifted can be heard
briefly before L enters the living room. L begins to set chairs
back in order; then he checks the refrigerator, pours himself a
glass, and walks into the living room.
L: Who’s been eating ma shit?
(C is squirming. L comes closer to the futon.)
L: Hey…hey!
(C moans, wipes eyes)
C: (groggily) What it be, man?
(L begins balling up trash and shooting it into the waste bin.)
L: You were supposed to be going shoppin’.
C: (speaking clearer but not getting up) Uh, I got da weed you
smoked when you came home last night.
L: (using his arms for emphasis) Oh, I see, it’s your new diet
plan. If ya broke, if ya hungry, just smoke a blunt. Great idea—
it will make us millions.
2 EVERYDAY LIFE
C: It’s better than my “if ya broke, if ya horny, go to sleep” ideas.
L: (sitting down) Now you’re just being ridiculous.
C: Life is ridiculous.
L: I wouldn’t say that.
C: That’s why I said it. (Sits up)
L: You always sayin’ and never doin’. You were an officer in
the navy, making good money. Do you get a job when your tour
was over? No-o-o-o, you reclines on my couch, sellin’ G-spot
tours, and all you ever have is four on it.
C: “Ridiculous” is you being a top-notch ball player (shooting
trash into the waste bin) who was two steps from the big time
but came back to Cali, homesick. (L occasionally blocks C’s
shots.) I mean, you was doing Raymond Lewis-type of shit, and
you came back here—
L: For…?
C: Your daughter. (L cleans the area even more now. C looks
around the apartment.) I don’t know how we got roaches—and
no food. Parking spaces—and no car.
L: Whatever, but life’s not ridiculous. Ironic, maybe. I’ve paid
my debt. I don’t lie or steal. I pay my way.
(C gets up to open the blinds. The light makes him cringe, and
he closes them a bit.)
C: (sarcastically) Paying your way? Who wants to do that? Don’t
lie…don’t steal… crazy.
Professional Reviews
The Makings of a Good Film
Every Day Life is a short play, that consist of four friends hanging out together discussing social and economic issues that plagued their genre. Amongst the seriousness of their discussion, they also found humor in it as well. It was an era when hip-hop was the best thing since Martin Luther King-and marijuana was the best way to cope with problems, the hype of the music industry, and the pitfalls of possibilities.
I thought the play was pretty good. My favorite characters were C and E. The two of them kept me laughing. At times, the jargon was a bit much and took me aback, but I was able to keep up... I loved the fact that I was able to visualize these four men sitting around getting high and talking smack, while the world passed them by. But, that's the way it is in every day life. I think this play would make for a very good short film.
5 Stars
Taught by EveryDay Life
It has been a very, very long time since I have read a play. With that said, even I realize that “Every Day Life” is not your typical play. Hip, although a dated word is the first one that came to my mind. We are a fly on the wall with four African-American men in the Long Beach inner city in the late 1990s. While the guys were hanging around smoking dope and talking, they taught me more than I could ever imagine.
“Responsibility and guilt aren’t the same thing, especially when you make the rules.” They say of the white man. “Shut yo’ sounds-of-blackness ass up. You black – black. Yo’ forehead, yo’ lips, yo’ whole fact just black” They say of the black man.
Struggling with drugs, sexual freedoms (lots of condom talk), gang violence, and sometimes poor choices in relationships we take this walk into what some would call “the wrong side.” After reading “Every Day Life,” you realize it is not “the wrong side” - maybe a more accurate description would be “the side for those yet undecided.”
In “Every Day Life,” M.G. Hardie has provided this glimpse inside the walls of this tiny one-bedroom apartment that provides an education, resounding in nature. You see to the souls of these individuals; while making you laugh, they make you cry. And you can only hope that each of them realize what a precious gift they are wasting.
Embrace the Message
AAMBC Book Reviews, December 12, 2008
By African Americans on the Move Book Club (San Antonio, USA) - See all my reviews
Everyday Life is just what the title says. It touches on so many issues about life that you get lost in the discussions. Hardie is hard core when it comes to telling it like it is. Not only does he speak from the African American point of view, he makes sure he tells it how we see it. Each page is filled with truth, passion, and reality. The characters are more then relatable, you know someone just like them. Reading Everyday Life was not only a fresh breath of air; it felt good to have a new voice for our people. From politics, relationships, education, the hood, to the nature of our world were all expressed in depth. You will praise these characters; you will laugh at them, relate to them, and wish you were in the book just to say your two cents. M G Hardie is a talent within it self. I strongly encourage you to get Evert Day Life, take in the message and embrace it. It is a must read. Mr. Hardie you get five stars from AAMBC.
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Soldier's Gap is a non-traditional mystery with literary elements. The high school principal is brutally murdered, but Deputy Sheriff Dave Jenkins's search for meaning and love is a much more significant theme.
"Murder isn't usually this fun
